Senior Management Quotes on Sustainability

Quotes are taken from MIT Sloan Management Review Special Report on "The Business of Sustainability"

“I think that the days of, ‘Hey, boss, just tell me what to do and I’ll get it
done,’ that’s not the future. The future is about ‘let’s fi gure out how to
take the world in a diff erent direction and let’s all go there together.’”

Steve Fludder
vice president, ecoimagination, GE

"I think that the world has reached a tipping point now. We’re beyond
the debates over whether [addressing sustainability] is something that
needs to be done or not—it’s now mostly about how do we do it. And
from an ecomagination perspective, it’s not about altruism, it’s about
creating value."

Steve Fludder
vice president, ecomagination, GE


"The essence of environmental strategy is to make it an issue for your
competitor—not for your own company—...because you’ve already
made sustainability an integral part of your business."

Amory Lovins
chairman and chief scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute

OPTIMISATION not MAXIMISATION

What on earth means responsible investment? I was at a workshop last week at Istanbul Stock Exchange to find out. Apparently it is a framework that helps investors to consider Environmental, Social and Corporate Government (ESG) performance of their portfolio. Get more information about the initiative at their website

Is that necessary? Believe it or not, it was not clear for even some of the panellists. 2 of the executives from Asset Management companies were so ignorant to the subject that I did not understand why they were invited. They kept talking about "their mission being maximizing the profit for their investors and how important government`s role blah blah blah".

To be fair, the market mechanism in Turkey is not deep enough to create pressure on those firms to have a serious CSR agenda and due to low credit ratings of the country, pension funds can not invest largely in Istanbul Stock Exchange. And yes, pension funds are the most conscious investors because they invest in the long-term value and environmental, social and corporate governance performance is more important in the long-term.

But still, if you think you don`t have anything to do about ESG performance of the companies, why do you bother and spend your afternoon at the workshop rather than staying at your office and maximising profits for your customers? Thank God, someone from the audience responded in a clever way. He said "it is a lie that you should MAXIMIZE your profit; instead you should OPTIMISE your profit. 300 years ago you could make tons of money using slaves, but at some point you could not any more. It is the same logic, you have to consider ethical performance of the companies you invest in, otherwise you will hit the wall at some point".

I thought, it is certain that we make progress; after all this was the first Responsible Investing workshop for asset management companies in Istanbul. The part that I am not certain is whether or not the progress is fast enough for our world and humanity...

Good-Bye to Nike (for now)

Nike is the place I feel that I have grown-up.

There is so much inside of me that is related to that great place and wonderful people working here....

After 7,5 years I am leaving Nike and relocating back to Turkey...

I am happy because I am back to one place in the world that I call home: Istanbul...

I am also sad because it is time to say good-bye to Nike and all the great people here...

I will take all the good things that I learnt, all the fun that I had and all the great frinedships that I lived with me.

Hopefully, I will let you know soon what is next for me and I am committed to keeping this blog alive. You will hear from me soon.

Are They Really Homeless? Player Stories from Homeless World Cup

When I tell about Homeless World Cup to my friends, the first question I get is "Are they really Homeless?". No, they are well-paid mid level managers that happen to pretend to be homeless!!!

I know it is hard to register for the first time that there is a World Cup for homeless people and they are travelling from all over the world to participate and they have football boots and jerseys etc. But that's the magic of HWC really, making those things happen with the support of sponsors.

In most of the countries, there are shelters that are trying to keep Homeless people safe and giving them basic needs like a bed to sleep, a shower and a cup of soup. Homeless World Cup works with those organizations to establish football trainings for those homeless people, which is a great tool to give them skills like team-play, discipline and acceptance for other cultures. Maybe the players we see in the tournament are not the ones that are in the worst conditions but they are the ones who are trying to get their lives back. That's why they are here and making the effort

Watch this short but impressive movie from Homeless World Cup to get to know the players better.

Homeless World Cup, MILAN 2009 - The Players from Jan-Paul Bednarz on Vimeo.

A Ball Can Change the World

I am in Milan this weekend. Not because I am dying for sunshine or I need to shop on the high street but because I want to see with my own eyes "how a ball can change the world".

Homeless World Cup 2009 is being held at beautiful Sempione Park in Milan. A World Cup for homeless people? Yes you can believe your eyes, homeless people can play football and good football too. Every game here is a great showcase of love, passion, dignity and fair play.



Eight years ago, Mel Young, who is one of the most inspiring but yet modest persons I have ever met, started that organization, which seemed to be nothing more than a crazy idea at the time. UEFA and Nike backed him right from the beginning and since the begining Homeless World Cup is increasing the awareness of Homelessness globally and giving thousands of homeless people in the world a hope and motivation for a better life. There are so many success stories that you can read about how HWC changed lifes of individuals on official website.

You can also watch the local correspondent Buddy reporting from Milan and giving some great insights about the tournament and players. This weekend we are going to watch quarterfinals, semis and the big final. I will try to write a few more posts about the tournament during the weekend.

The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility

The concept of responsibility to society in business has a long history in contrast to the general opinion. Corporate Social Responsibility is the name of the concept in the modern era that has emerged in the '70s and '80s in the community as a result of rising environmental awareness. With the rise of concerns towards globalization at the end of 90’s, the expectations of the civil society from multinational corporations have increased. The corporate sector addressed those concerns by implementing 'Corporate Social Responsibility' strategies.

In light of this assessment, the most important factor that will determine the future of CSR is the level of the expectations of consumers and civil society as well as the level of incentives for companies at the marketplace. Personally I do not see any reason why these expectations should decline. On the contrary, expectations of social responsibility and corporate investment in these areas are increasing despite we are going through one of history's greatest economic crisis. In addition, enormous pressure on limited resources of the earth caused by growing population and increase in consumption, global health issues and pandemics, the pace of technology transfer to developing countries will be other factors that will determine the future of CSR.


I anticipate two trends related to the future of CSR. First, the weight of CSR strategies is likely to increase rapidly in the developing countries like Turkey, India, Brazil and China. If you look at the history of CSR in those countries, you will see the main driver has been the demands of international business partners. As a result, in these countries the executions have been eclectic and fragmented as opposed to being strategic. In the future demands of foreign customers in these countries will be supported by increasing pressure of civil society and consumers in these countries and that will trigger a movement of integrating CSR practices into the overall business strategy. These countries that have not yet completed their economic development will have different opportunities than already developed countries. As an example, China set a target of providing 15% of energy needs from renewable sources by 2015.

The other development that I anticipate is that, CSR strategies will be seen as a source of innovation and growth and will not be limited to a tool for reputation and risk management or increasing efficiency. In practice that means a switch from the mentality of “writing a cheque” to investing in hybrid business models that combines social and business return. To give an example in the area of environmental sustainability, there will be a shift towards truly integrating the cost of the natural resources and the environmental impact of the production in the cost sheets of products. In such a world, the current business modals will be challenged and only the ones who can adapt will survive.

European Union and Corporate Social Responsibility

Association of Corporate Social Responsibility (Kurumsal Sosyal Sorumluluk Dernegi) in Turkey aims to develop awareness of social responsibility both at local and national level to achieve sustainable development and social justice. They did an interview with me for the July issue of their monthly Bulletin. This month's theme is Corporate Social Responsibility and the European Union. I decided to post the questions and answers on my blog as separate entries.


Question: Do you find European Union's perspective on Corporate Social Responsibility sufficient?


You can approach this question from different angles considering European Union is consisted of different countries and very different political tendencies. Implementation level of CSR in each region can vary. UK’s private sector leadership on this issue is very clear. CSR strategies of many large and small companies are integrated with business strategies of companies as much as possible. The biggest reason is the high expectations of UK consumers on this issue. Corporations in other large countries are also implementing important strategies in CSR but those have not been integrated into the overall strategy of the corporations as in the UK. I think European Union is the world leader in terms of implementing legislations to encourage corporations and support CSR implementation. European Commission responsible for Industry and Competition has done extensive work in this area. For example, 2006 dated recommendation report aims to make Europe a center of attraction for CSR. In addition, targets for reduction of environmental impact and release of carbon emissions are quite ambitious. Those targets increase legal obligations of corporations and encourage them to make voluntary investments beyond the legal requirements as well.


The European Union is in the forefront of CSR regarding the reduction of environmental impact of economic activity and issues such as the production of environmentally friendly products. There are good examples of social projects of course, but in general, European countries have very high tax rates and the social state tradition is very strong. This makes people and corporations think that supporting people who are in need is the duty of the state. As a reflection of this in Europe most of the social projects are designed for helping less developed countries in Africa or Latin America. It is also a fact that there is increase of projects within European countries in recent years aiming the social integration of migrant population.